I see absolutely no upside for a society to allow sports betting. The tax revenues don't justify the addiction, debts and devastated families.
It sounds kind of similar to the legalization of certain recreational drugs. For example, alcohol prohibition resulted in a massive black market with organized criminal gangs, and many places realized it's better to regulate it rather than prohibit it.
I think for gambling, we need better regulations, and the Australian government seems to think so too.
without gambling though, pat mahomes would be making less money that I am making…
It's not like he was broke when it was just beer and crypto ads. He made 10 million dollars his rookie year in the NFL before SCOTUS federally legalized gambling.
Nothing should be black and white. Even for alcohol and drug abuse, we should look at each and evaluate.
Illegal gambling has been rife for a very long time - the bookie down the pub taking bets on horses, games, whatever
Add to that that the Costigan Commission (1984) and the Fitzgerald Inquiry (1989) proved that illegal gambling was the foundational "river of gold" for organised crime in Australia.
But your original claim was 'very few gambled illegally' which the historical record contradicts.
The Costigan and Fitzgerald inquiries showed illegal gambling wasn't just widespread - the profits funded other organised crime including the heroin trade.
We can debate whether legalisation was net positive without rewriting that history.
Like is there a graph of illegal gambling participation by pop over time?
I've run in many different circles in my life and I've never really come across any sort of illegal gambling.
I know it exists[0], it just honestly doesn't seem very common.
> The race track, it appears, is a great meeting place for criminals. The Costigan Royal Commission (Australia 1984), the Connor Inquiry (Victoria 1983), the Moffit Royal Commission (New South Wales 1974) and the Fitzgerald Inquiry (Queensland 1989) revealed that a vast network of SP bookmakers exists throughout Australia. They found the monetary flow in the industry huge, and as such has the potential to finance many other illegal activities.
> Mr Justice Moffit warned that there was evidence to indicate that SP syndicates were in contact with major heroin smugglers and domestic drug distributors (New South Wales 1974).
> Connor estimated that the annual turnover for SP bookmaking was $1800 million in New South Wales and $1000 million in Victoria. Connor has said of illegal bookmaking: >> Illegal bookmaking is a multimillion dollar industry run by people who can get up to forty or fifty telephones and who, if their telephones are closed down, can get them in new premises a week later. Illegal bookmakers prosper, making millions of illegal dollars, simply because they do not pay income tax or betting taxes (Victoria 1983a, vol. 2, ch. 14).[0]
McMillen, J. (1996). "Gambling Cultures: Studies in History and Interpretation."
This academic study explains that SP bookmaking was a "submerged" culture. It operated through "runners" in pubs and massive illegal telephone exchanges. If you weren't a "punter" or part of that specific working-class pub culture, the infrastructure was invisible by design to avoid police detection. (unfortunately I cannot link you to a direct copy - but https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/97802039935... )
[0]https://www.aic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-05/tandi024....
https://henley.austlii.edu.au/au/other/cth/AURoyalC/1984/2.p... (It's a prick of a thing to search, but the phrase "River of gold" was used to describe the profits the union was taking from illegal gambling)
If people were just going to do it anyway, these gambling companies wouldn’t be pouring billions into advertising to stimulate demand
People die during parachuting and climbing mount everest. What's the upside really beyond “People enjoy doing it and it's their own life.”?
For the freedom of normal folks to have 1 beer, 25% of the population is drinking 78% of the consumed alcohol.[1]
And before anyone brings up that myth there is no beneficial dose of alcohol. Even in the pro-wine studies it's been found that the benefit was just the fact it was grapes and that eating/drinking the grapes without fermentation is superior.
[1] https://www.recoveryanswers.org/research-post/alcohol-sales-...
I'm fine with taxing it more in subsidized single-payer healthcare systems though but I also feel that should be done more consistently. I for instance also believe that say high heels should be taxed more because they're bad for one's health for similar reasons or unhealthy food but that's not “socially controversial” enough for that I get which is ultimately what it's always about. “health” is always just an excuse.
In many non-US countries, we consider the second-order effects due to having inviolable public safety nets. People who are their own victims due to vice are still afforded care because they’re still humans and citizens. That’s why we try to dissuade falling into those vices in the first place.
As a case study look at the impact sites like CSGOLounge had on the popularity of competitive CSGO.
However, vices all come with negative aspects and it’s on us to discuss what the right overall balance is. IMO, when it comes to sports gambling advertisement, it’s way too freely available and normalised.
I’d also like to see a dramatic reduction of pokies (there’s an ABCA article from 2020 that I can’t currently find covering how much money Aussies saved by not being able to play them during lockdown, it’s staggering), but simultaneously fear for the mass closure of sports clubs and other third space venues if it were to happen. It’s a balancing act.
But at least for pokies, they’re deliberately walled away from the restaurant areas, etc. With TV ads, any easily-influenced kid watching their sporting heroes is exposed to this. It’s normalised along watching the sport itself. It’s no surprise there’s a direct conduit from that to young adults having gambling problems.